Connect with local food & farmers
Do you have a farm to add to our map?
Farmers Markets
Online Local Food Markets
Food Access
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For every $1 you spend on any fresh fruits and vegetables with your SNAP EBT card, you will get $1 in Double Up Food Bucks. Spend your Double Up Food Bucks for more fresh fruits and vegetables. Learn more about Double Up Food Bucks.
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A community fridge is just what it sounds like – a publicly accessible refrigerator that’s stocked with free food. It’s a way to bring food to the places where people already are. Find fridges here.
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Help end food insecurity.
Download the Supply Hive Food Rescue App and make a difference today. It’s easy.
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Many community fridges as well as other food access points are participating in the LFPA program. LFPA allows food hubs to purchase and distribute local and regional foods through organizations that reach underserved communities. In addition to increasing local food consumption, funds will help build and expand economic opportunity for local and socially disadvantaged producers. Learn more at iowalfpa.org.
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The Senior Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program (SFMNP) is administered by the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship in cooperation with the Iowa Department on Aging. The program provides eligible older adults with a booklet of checks ($30) that can be spent at participating farmers’ markets and roadside stands to purchase fresh, Iowa grown fruits, vegetables, herbs, and honey.
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The Farmers’ Market Nutrition Program runs from June 1 to October 31. Eligible participants will receive checks to buy fresh Iowa-grown fruits, vegetables, and herbs at your local farmers’ market!
Visit a Farm
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Here are farms you can visit! Check out the variety of farm stands, shops, tours and classes available within an hour of Des Moines. Find Farms to Visit here.
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U-Pick farms offer the surrounding community the chance to get to know their farmers and offers a hands on learning experience for the whole family. Find U-Pick Farms.
CSA Farms
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A CSA, stands for Community Supported Agriculture, a subscription style method for purchasing seasonal produce.
When you buy a subscription at the beginning of the season this cash infusion allows the farmer to pay for seed, water, equipment and labor early season when farm expenses are high and farm income is low. In return the farm provides its members with a box of fresh picked seasonal produce each week. CSAs build community by reconnecting its members to the seasons and fostering relationships between members and the people who grow their food
- Ann Cure, Cure Organic Farms in Boulder, CO
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Gardening & Foraging Resources
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Foraging for wild food is a great way to learn more about your local area and it’s a nice combination of hiking and gardening!
City of DSM Resource
A Beginner’s Guide to Wild Edible Plants from Grinnell College
Wild Harvested Mushrooms in Iowa
Sierra Club Foraging Resources
Did You Know?
Just 16¢ of every dollar spent on food in 2020 went back to the farm; in 1975, it was 40¢.The more processed and convenient our food becomes the more middlemen are involved and the less money goes to the original farmer.
University of Michigan: Center for Sustainable Systems
You could easily live your whole life in Iowa without eating an Iowa-grown meal. More than 85% of Iowa’s land is farmed, yet Iowa imports 90% of its food.
Iowa’s Local Food Systems: A Place to Grow by Laura Krouse & Teresa Galluzzo
Pesticides have been found in 94% of water sources across the US with industrial agriculture as a major contributor. Local farmers are more likely to engage in sustainable practices that limit pesticide use, keeping chemicals out of our water system.
United States Geological Survey
If one were to factor in the damage industrial agriculture does to the environment - its cheaper prices wouldn’t look so appealing. Instead those costs are left to local, and often marginalized, communities to bear in the long term.
Iowa Farmer, Angela Tedesco
